A Brisbane food retailer got prosecuted and fined $16.000 by the Queensland Health Department for making illegal claims about noni juice. The retailer, through website advertising and brochures, claimed that his tropical gold noni juice was a life-saving elixir that could be used to treat cancer, stroke, and depression.

Eldon Pierce, a top managing director at Tahitian Noni has resigned because of frustrations and ethical conflicts at TNI. Kelly Olson got into an argument with another director over the massive layoffs. That argument got heated to the point at which security was called in to “assist”. Problems at TNI seem to continue at a rapid and exponential pace. Are these even more signs of impending collapse?

Source : Herald Extra
The signs and behavior of TNI, indicating that they are suffering both financial and resource problems, are clearly an ingredient in the settlement with Xango over a three year legal dispute over the intellectual property right. Sources inform us that no money was exchanged as part of this settlement.

Why has TNI and their army of snake-oil salesmen been claiming for several years that they would “own Xango” or would otherwise “spend millions to bury Xango”.

Distributors of TNI must feel like they have egg on their face after beating their war drums while making bold statements about how TNI was going to destroy Xango. Then again, TNI distributors are known for making bold statements without substantiation.

Source : NIH.GOV
“A 45-year-old patient was sent to our department because of highly elevated transaminases and elevated lactate dehydrogenase… He took no medication on regular basis…

Physical examination did not detect any abnormalities… He admitted that for ‘prophylactic reasons’ he had been drinking the juice of Noni (Morinda citrifolia). This gave rise to the suspicion of herbal toxicity, which was confirmed by a liver biopsy.”

Documented: Read all about how Tahitian Noni Internetional founder and management, Kerry and Kim Asay and John J. Wadsworth got involved in a ‘Ponzi’ scheme with a good $6 million on the line. Check out the Witness Statements outlining the flow of money with the MATHON Management Company, LLC (Arizona/Delaware). A big mess that no amount of Noni Juice can ‘cure’, or can it?

Source : Department of Justice
Tahitian Noni International, Inc. has received a notice of violation of the safe drinking water and toxic enforcement act of 1986 (California Health and Safety Code 25249.5 et. seq.) because of their Tahiti Trim Plan 40 Body Balance Cream and regarding Consumer Progesterone, and Testosterone Creams, Gels, and/or Lotion Products. The Carrick Law Group P.C., on behalf of the California Women’s Law Center has served this Notice of Violation to a list of companies that includes Tahitian Noni International, Inc. (see the link above for details).

The Notice is the prerequisite for the California Women’s Law Center to commence legal action to enforce the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enfocement Act of 1986 and on the belief that the violations outlined in the Notice occur in every county and city in California. The California Attorney General and the district attorney of every California county and the city attorney of every California city (with a population over 750.000) have also received this Notice.

The Notice states that in the course of doing business, the Companies, knowingly and intentiolally have exposed, and continues to expose, individuals (especially woman) to the listed chemicals and that no clear and reasonable warning is or has been provided by the Companies to individuals regarding exposure to the listed chemicals or regarding the fact that these are known to the State of California to be a health risk. The state of California lists Progesterone, Medroxyprogesterone acetate, Testosterone and its esters as carcinogens (known to cause cancer) and lists Medroxyprogesterone acetate, Methyltestosterone, Testosterone cypionate and Testosterone enanthate, as reproductive toxins.

Neil Solomon, admitted in writing to unethical behavior: sexual abuse of patients.

Unethical behavior, sexual misconduct, bankruptcy, said to be a paid speaker for TNI, and there are people who trust his expertise when it comes to Noni? Some do, most wouldn’t. It seems that Mr. Solomon’s most recent e-mail implies that TNI (Tahitian Noni International) is trying to disassociate themselves from Mr. Neil Solomon.

Very often we run into evidence that links Mormons and the business practices of Multi Level Marketing, a.k.a. pyramid schemes, to the sales and marketing of Noni Juice using a tightly knit network of people who are skilled in the art of “networking”. We have listed a few articles and various public discussions on the subject. Overall we think it serves as a basis for dealers who treat their Noni sales as if it was a religion, along with all the fanaticism that unfortunately is often associated with the mixing of religion and money.

A reader in Germany informed us of the following; Aloha News Europe found in research for the World Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany, that all claims that Noni was a drink in ancient Polynesia are not true. Natives told ANE, that the ancient ones until today used noni juice only outward of the body on the skin to help with burns to relief. Wounds would heal much faster and prevent scars. Nobody would drink it.

The price per liter (about 1 quart of a gallon) in Polynesia was offered at that time from native farmers who just started to grow Noni to meet white mans desires with 30 Pfennigs (0,30 Deustsche Mark / equals 15 Cents US). Only one year later the price was increased to 6 DM / 3 US$.

All Noni Products offered at the Pacific Hall 22 on the EXPO fair grounds, from Samoa and Vanuatu islands were conficated by the police, and had to leave Europe with the end of the EXPO. Beside juice there were offered Noni Sweets and Noni Dagree, a half months supply was retail 12 DM / 6 US$.

At that time Noni was illegal to import to Germany and juices tested in Hamburg and Wuerzburg state healthauthority laboratories found even Rubiadins in one brand from USA, which causes cancer, due to the use of the roots and leaves of the noni plant.

Source : US Courts
On page 157 you can find that Ryan Mitchell Richey has filed and ADA related suit against Tahitian Noni International. Mr. Richey is claiming wrongful termination and failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Are TNI and their facilities not accomodating handicapped individuals? Wouldn’t their distributors, like these, or these, like to sell Noni Juice to handicapped people, using testimonials and other outrageous health claims?

This web site (in Dutch, regarding fraud) contains a section on Noni Juice which contains the following (translated) description: “Noni is a tropical fruit. There are only testimonial claims regarding this substance.

The testimonial claims regarding Noni are with regard to its benefits against MS, cancer, HIV, and cut off fingers. According to someone’s testimony a HIV patient had used it for 15 days and saw an increase of 90 CD4 cells. This can also occur if you do not use Noni. What has happened further to this HIV positive patient is committed from the story.

Another testimonial is completely unbelievable; a man with AIDS and a nasty opportunistic infection, was on the edge of death.

He started using Noni, nurtured himself back to health and has since a normal CD4-count and a normal viral load (sic). If this had really happened than the doctor in charge of this patient would have had the moral duty to report these findings for scientific publication. Because a substance is being used for centuries is very interesting but says nothing about the product. The fact that Noni is a natural substance and has been used for centuries in Asia and Polynesia does, therefore, not provide any information regarding the role it could play during treatment of HIV infection, if it even could have any role at all.” (original text by Kees Rumke)

The site www.cancerpage.com presents an article by Chris Thomas which highlights the US Food and Drug Administration’s warning letter to a company selling Noni Juice in the context of various testimonials.

This excellent article also highlights that Noni has NOT been PROVEN to be effective or safe, or even helpful. It is no surprise that the FDA is concerned about such wild claims.

The article also describes a test done at the National Cancer Institute and the lack of scientific evidence of the claims made by those financially involved in the business of selling and marketing Noni Juice and Noni Capsules.

This article also mentions that Morinda Inc. (Tahitian Noni International) has claimed to have paid out over $745,680,000 to distributors in the company’s first five-and-a-half years. It is clear that with such financial benefits the distributors will find ways to sell the substance, regardless of the amount of unsubstantiated claims that they will need to make to achieve high volume sales figures.

Xango is a curiousity to me. I live in Thailand, and I love to eat the mangosteen fruit. However, the Xango literature I’ve seen suggests Thai people use mangosteen to cure a host of ills. Yet no Thai I’ve asked to date is aware of mangosteen being any more healthy than any other of their “exotic” fruit!

An FTC proposed rule would apply to companies that sell their products through “distributors” or “consultants” that pay to be enrolled as a reseller or a company that offers individuals business assistance. In short, they apply to all companies offering franchise opportunities, vendor machine businesses, and other home-based businesses. The proposed rule has five required disclosures that must be made in writing at least seven days in advance of the individual’s agreement to enroll as a distributor. This, in essence, creates a “seven-day waiting period” for anyone attempting to sign up a distributor. Included in the proposed rule is a Business Opportunity Disclosures form that would be required. Many Noni snake-oil salesmen are up in arms about this because they make most of their money by signing up new distributors and it would not be a welcome change if those people they sign up get a chance to THINK about it during a short waiting period.

Source : ABC News
Polynesian medicine for a variety of ailments including cancer, hypertension and diabetes; however, scientific evidence to support these claims is limited at best. Bottom line: It will give you a short burst of energy, but only because of its high natural sugar content. Because it’s from a plant, it also contains some vitamins and minerals like potassium, which your body needs. Warnings: Diabetes and kidney patients should avoid it.

Source : FDA
FDA stops TNI/Morinda’s dried noni fruits at the ports in New Orleans. The FDA has taken this action because, as listed; (1) It appears the food is fabricated from two or more ingredients and the label does not list the common or usual name of each ingredient. (2) The food is in package form and appears to not bear a label containing the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor. (3) It appears that the label does not bear the common or usual name of the food.

Source : Australia
Tahitian Noni International is having trouble with Trademarks! The Australian Intellectual Property Rights authority shows an opposition from Intel Corp. on the trademark, effectively halting or blocking the Noni Cafe business based on the Trademark that Tahitian Noni International applied for. With the extension to the opposition it appears that that Noni Cafe(s) are not going to be opening as expected and planned.

Source : Caremark
Noni has been heavily promoted for an enormous range of uses, including abrasions, arthritis, atherosclerosis, bladder infections, boils, bowel disorders, burns, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, circulatory weakness, colds, cold sores, congestion, constipation, diabetes, drug addiction, eye inflammations, fever, fractures, gastric ulcers, gingivitis, headaches, heart disease, hypertension, improved digestion, immune weakness, indigestion, intestinal parasites, kidney disease, malaria, menstrual cramps, menstrual irregularities, mouth sores, respiratory disorders, ringworm, sinusitis, skin inflammation, sprains, stroke, thrush, and wounds. However, there is no real evidence that it is effective for any of these conditions. “Several animal studies have evaluated the effects of extracts derived from noni. The results suggest noni may have anti-cancer immune-enhancing and pain-relieving properties. However, most of these studies used unrealistically high doses that would be difficult to get from taking the juice itself. There have been no human trials of noni.”

Noni: A patent for cleaning grease traps and sewer lines!

A reader recently pointed out to us the cold hard facts regarding the patent that was granted to Dr. Heincke for Noni. Thanks for the heads up Allen.

As Morinda/TNI will proudly tell its distributors, and likewise proud distributors will tell unaware but potential customers and new distributors, there are patents involved with Noni! Using such statements they imply that something must be good and special about Noni. But only if you read the actual patent will you discover that this patent pertains to a “A method is disclosed for eliminating grease, sewage odor and hydrogen sulfide from restaurant grease traps and municipal sewage systems using xeronine. Xeronine works by stimulating the metabolism of the resident anaerobic and aerobic bacteria.”. We could joke about how the vile smell of Noni easily out-stinks sewage, but we won’t. We do, however, feel that patent 4,666,606 shows that drinkers of Noni Juice should not confuse themselves with sewers. Our advise would be to pour Noni Juice down the drain… in case things are clogged, of course.

A viewer writes; “What is seriously alarming however is her penchant for swindles that involve so-called health supplements.

Last year she spent about £350 on six bottles of a wonder cure called “noni juice”.

This is apparently a Tahitian laxative, but is sold to gullible fools as a cure for anything.

Because she has told a couple of “Health supplement” rackets about her arthritis, she got a mail-shot claiming it was the cure for arthritis, and she believed it to the tune of £350 for six bottles.

That’s a lot of money even for AP. I checked the label on an empty bottle, it was 96% sugar water, and all she got was the trots. Then she stopped that one”.

Source : The Panama News
The fugitive who would be king : American, wanted for fraud, runs noni land scheme in Panama. “Noni is a fruit that comes from Polynesia. It looks ugly, and smells and tastes horrible. Medicinal powers have been attributed to it — it’s supposed to keep you healthy and young.

Life expectancy in Polynesia, however, is no higher than in the rest of the world.

Source : Bella Online
There’s certainly no clinical, double-blind research done on human subjects published in peer review journals. (All legitimate peer-review scientific journals are listed in the Index Medicus.) And, by the way, being listed in The Physician’s Desk Reference is also paid advertising. But wait! One article on the site was actually printed in a legitimate peer review journal (Cancer Research 61, 5749-5756, August 1, 2001). So, does this mean that it’s peer reviewed research? Nope – just more slick advertising! How do I know? The article footnote reads: “The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.”

Source : Forbes Magazine
“A lot of the hype originated with Ralph Heinicke, 90, who once researched pineapple enzymes for Dole and now serves as a consultant for TNI”, Noni juice, he claims, activates xeronine but in such small quantities, he concedes, that it’s virtually undetectable.” “Heinicke is in his own universe,” says Will C. McClatchey, an ethnobotanist at the University of Hawaii who has studied healing traditions across ten Polynesian cultures.

A paid speaker for TNI: “I admit that for at least the past 20 years, I have used my position as a physician to instigate a wide range of sexual relations with at least eight woman patients. This conduct included acts of sexual intercourse, as well as other explicit sex acts. These activities took place in my medical office during patient visits, as well as in other locations. I admit that I engaged in sexual misconduct with my patients during the physician/patient relationship. I admit that I engaged in this conduct with multiple patients over the same time period.” — Neil Solomon, October 27, 1993

Also driving the noni craze are a combination of factors: its mythologized link to ancient Polynesian medicinal traditions; advertising by the commercial noni industry capitalizing on some of the unsubstantiated claims for their products. This page certainly sums it up very well.

Mr. Philip S. Chua, M.D. has more to say about the irresponsible claims made by the manufacturer of this controversial substance. In this article he writes about the seriousness of market response to the epidemic of fraud and deception.

How is it possible that a company and its distributors claim to be focussed on natural products (and cures for any illness you can imagine, especially your financial illnesses) yet we have found some products are using SPLENDA® as the artificial sweetener. Dr. Janet Starr Hull wrote “you would just as soon have a pesticide in your food as sucralose because sucralose (Splenda) is a chlorocarbon”. Splenda, like Aspartame, is not something you would like to put into your body.

Isn’t it remarkable how TNI distributors always claim the FDA and other food authorities are trying to block Noni products because it hurts the big pharma and laboratory/engineering/chemical ingredient companies and that the FDA is responsible for allowing poisons to be present in our food, yet when it comes to their own products they don’t seem to mind it’s in there. For example, if you look at the “TAHITIAN NONI® High Protein Drink” and TahitiTrim (Tahiti Trim also known as TTP40, The Plan 40) “Complete Protein Fiber Ingredients” are listing Splenda (Sucralose Sweetener) as one of their ingredients. The company behind Splenda, McNeil Nutritionals, LLC, also lists “Tahitian Noni Trim Complete Shake” as a product using the sweetener. It sure shows how a “health product” company easily uses the kind of laboratory engineered substances that they and their distributors claim are unhealthy and unnatural.

There is an abundance of information available on the internet regarding Splenda. But what is even more surprising is THIS SITE which warns about the dangers of Splenda and how you can’t trust the FDA and goes on to use Dr. Mercola’s comments on the subject. Yet the very same site advertises Tahitian Noni Juice. So on the one hand they are seriously warning you against the dangers of Splenda and the companies that put it in your food and drinks, and on the other hand they are also advertising a product and a company that is using this chlorocarbon in some of their products.

“Morinda, Inc. (now called Tahitian Noni International, the maker and distributor of Noni Juice) has been selling 6 more items in the Philippines that are without Bureau of Food and Drug approval; I do not know why the BFAD is allowing this to happen.Are you aware of the recent diet pills that killed several people in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore? Without BFAD approval, (I believe the public should be made aware that) these products of Morinda are not fit for human consumption.”

A heavy warning notice (PDF) to a company using propaganda and marketing material that describes the Medicinal Value of Noni Juice and how it is effective against anything from cancer to Alzheimers.

We remain amazed at the frequency of his intentional misrepresentation of a substance that has not been proven to be even close to what the wild money-hungry sales folks will claim.

Yes. Mango-Xan, a “liquid dietary supplement”.

Isn’t it funny how Noni and Mangosteen distributors have been battling it out, calling eachother’s products inferior, calling eachother’s businesses a scam. Why stop at a single scam if you can diversify. Mango-Xan is a product by Pure Fruit Technologies, LLC which is a marketing company and a subsidiary of Morinda Holdings in Provo, Utah (333 W. River Park Drive). The driving direction given to get there are; “Exit I-15 in American Fork at Exit #279. Turn Southwest off the Freeway. Take 2nd left (1000 South). Pass Car Dealer. Go through stop sign (after stopping, of course). Take first left on to Bromley Drive. You’ll see the huge white warehouse building with a “Tahitian Noni” sign on the left”.

We have had quite a few angry e-mail messages from Noni distributors who responded to us after we brought up Mango-Xan, saying that TNI would never do such a thing, that it would be bad for business, and that we had posted lies about TNI having a Mangosteen product. Well, don’t believe us, check it out yourself!. If TNI wishes to keep this hidden from its distributors that is their business and they probably have a very good reason not to tell them.

Kelly Olsen from TNI wrote about Pure Fruit Technologies saying “Now, to date, none of these businesses have met the criteria to begin to produce contributions to the 4th bonus pool. They are all fledgling businesses that will take time to develop entirely”, admitting that PFT was part of TNI but without saying what PFT was producing or marketing. It’s not about what a company hides, it’s all about how they hide it that speaks for itself. So if a TNI distributor comes up and says again that Mangosteen is nothing but a scam and Noni is the only real “cure” for your problems you might want to remind them and confront them with these facts.

We will not be presenting any SPAM on this web site but we would like to show you the following page which describes “this pack of pyramid sellers” and highlights similar SPAM which can be found in the newsgroups on Usenet, such as can be seen on this page where a plethora of unsubstantiated claims are made about Noni. No self respecting sales person or marketing company would stoop as low as to deploy Usenet and e-mail SPAM in order to sell a product which is claimed to be some kind of miracle cure. In fact, due to this kind of SPAM it is clear in what category the Noni products belong; the same category as that of other SPAM for products that serve no purpose other than to enrich and line the pockets of those offering their miracles to the unfortunate masses that end up paying for nothing other than false hope. Maybe new Noni SPAM might include claims that the miracle juice will increase penis length. I would not be surprised if they would start to make such claims on top of all the other false claims.

In January 2002, readers of Children with Diabetes began to receive unsolicited commercial e-mail (”spam”) from someone claiming that noni, a fruit juice, had done wonders for their child’s health. These messages contained the usual high dosage of quackery. You can read about it on this site, in detail.

Source : skepticfriends.org
And not doing a good job at it either. If it wasn’t for the sad fact that idiots like this are allowed to sell you Noni it would actually be hilarious. Read about the homeopathic oxymoron that perhaps is worthy of just being labeled a moron.

Source : youngagain.com
Here’s an interesting article that puts Noni Juice into the same category as other hyped up misrepresented substances. As Mr. Mason concludes, “How can people read crap like this and take it seriously?”. Indeed.

Source : healthfraud.org
Healthfraud.Org has a summary page about Noni Juice and concludes that “No studies of its effect on cancer or HIV have been performed on humans”.

Source : cyclingforums.com
One forum participant considers Noni sales to be at the level of charlatanism disguised as sales hype, and that Noni Juice should be called Nonsense Juice instead.

The Noni spammers have been at it again trying to sell their “miracle” substance to the masses by unsolicited e-mail.

The American Cancer Society has published information about the Noni Plant and concludes that “there is no scientific evidence that noni juice is effective in preventing or treating cancer or any other disease”.

The information also mentions that “proponents claim that the noni fruit and its juice can be used to treat cancer, diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol, high blood pressure, HIV, rheumatism, psoriasis, allergies, infection, and inflammation“. The final conclusion and advice is that “the safety and long-term effects of noni juice and other noni products are not known. However, relying on this type of treatment alone, and avoiding conventional medical care, may have serious health consequences”.

Elizabeth Decker has written a great article in which she presents the question ” Whether noni fruit can really improve your life is still up for debate; regardless, distributors are appearing everywhere, and noni juice and capsules are available everywhere, even on the Internet. Is what we’re buying the same thing medicine men were prescribing 2,000 years ago, or is it just noni nonsense?”

Cebu Daily News received an unsigned letter of rebuttal regarding earlier Noni Juice articles. The letter stated that Tahitian Noni Juice is not marketed as a “miracle cure” but as a food supplement, and that any claims made that it is a cure-all are not sanctioned by its manufacturer. Unfortunately you can read all about it here and why it is a failing attempt to stop the stream of negative articles regarding Noni Juice.

The Nutrition Business Journal offers to documents that contain information about Noni Juice and the company that manufactures it. Unfortunately these two documents are not free and will need to be purchased. While we have no association whatsoever with the NBJ and would prefer to offer free information we have decided to add links to these two documents in case you do wish to purchase any.

Noni Fruit Harvests King-Sized Sales : “994 word article from Nutrition Business Journal’s April 2002 issue. Excerpt: Morinda claims a substantial lead in the market for noni products. Noni juice has been used for centuries in Polynesia as a health tonic, but … into the benefits of Morinda citrifolia is still early-stage. However, noni juice hasn’t waited on scientific proofs but captured the attention..”

April 2002 : Direct Marketing in the Nutrition Industry II : “Multilevel marketers pick up growth in direct sales channel; infomercials proliferate, Internet survivors trim down, catalogs reinvent. This 24-page issue is NBJ’s annual…”

Tim Gorski, MD discusses how to expose a quack and explains the Noni Juice Nonsense in which he addresses the many false claims made by Noni distributors and outlines the misconception and deception relating to research material that is often pointed to by Noni sales beneficiaries (e.g, those who earn money selling the products to unsuspecting and good-faith customers).

The following is an article (originally posted in Dutch and also on this site) that aims to provide a quick overview, summary, and personal perspective on Noni Juice. We have taken the liberty to translate this to English and would like to thank the original author for having posted this summary.

It is very interesting and bizarre that in a short exchange of “information” the number of people that write the most (about Noni Juice) are evidently active sales people that sell Noni Juice and as such they are influenced by the commercial and financial benefits they can reap.

What isn’t being said in all the wonderful stories about this “miracle juice” is that the product is often offered and advertised through SPAM e-mail, by different so-called distributors. This then automatically places this “miracle juice” in the same category of SPAM as is the case with Viagra, penis enlargement, mortgages and credit, and “get rich quick schemes”. The same category of SPAM that everyone with an e-mail address has already seen too much of.

What also isn’t told by the fancy-speaking sales people and distributors is the background of the mother company that produces this “miracle juice” which it sells through a system that can commonly be referred to as a pyramid scheme (but referred to as multi level marketing just like SPAM companies call themselves direct marketing experts) and that the mother company has often been taken to court by government prosecutors of different states in the USA. These legal suits were often because of, amongst other things, the way in which Noni Juice was being sold (with claims that it was a medicine or cure for HIV, cancer, etc.) Not only in the USA has the company been forced to pay fines. Subsequently there are distributors in the pyramid construction who will say that this “miracle juice” has been approved by the EU but what they fail to mention is that this approval is with regard to using the trademark and name of Tahitian Noni (R) while only allowing it under the category of a “novelty food” product as pasteurized fruit-juice. The mother company and manufacturer Tahitian Noni International (TNI) previously operating under the name Morinda, Inc., knows better than to make unsubstantiated claims and therefore leaves the marketing, sales, and advertising up to their distributors which in turn deploy the kind of marketing that TNI itself could no longer sustain without running into yet more legal trouble. The fact that these distributors in the EU are using the EU “approval” to impress unsuspecting potential customers with the claim that the ingredients of this “miracle juice” are approved by the EU is definitely something that can be considered surprising and suspicious.

It is also remarkable that many of the distributors and sales people around the globe, working within the pyramid structure, have constructed many different web sites on the internet which only serve the purpose of influencing the results of search engines (like Google and AltaVista). These sites and pages use combinations of words such as “Noni Fraud” and “Noni Scam” to lure and lead people to other sites which in turn sell this “miracle juice” or otherwise contain a lot of positive-spin propaganda. It is clear that in many cases these pages only serve the purpose to hide and overshadow other material published about Noni Juice which makes it difficult for people to find neutral or less-than-positive information on the internet regarding Noni Juice. This manipulation of search engine results aims to hide pages carrying facts other than those offered by the distributors and sales people.

For example as can be found at http://www.worldwidewarning.net

Raising false and idle hope for people who are suffering from cancer, including the families and loved ones, with the purpose of commercial and financial gains makes you kind of wonder… to say the least. Perhaps in the future these distributors will learn what it is like to have a disease that can’t be cured.. in their bank accounts. Maybe the Noni Juice distributors should consider taking up some of those “get rich quick” spam offers because Noni might not be their ticket to wealth. Considering that, maybe it’s not so strange that distributors and sales people are deploying their marketing activities on the internet in many of the different forums and discussion groups.

Source : The Times
There is little mention of it outside Dr Heinicke’s work and the claims made by noni juice producers. A search through a number of research databases failed to find any mention of xeronine. Professor Richard Mithen, the head of Plant Foods for Health Protection at the Institute of Food Research, had not heard of xeronine and could find no scientific papers describing it. Mithen believes, however, that noni juice is a good source of antioxidants, which are known to help protect against cancer. All fruits contain antioxidants and Mithen could see no evidence that noni juice is any better for you than orange juice. Many successful drugs, such as aspirin, quinine and tamoxifen, the breast cancer drug, come from plants, yet so far no noni-based drugs have been identified.

Source : Australia
Victorian based Internet trader Mr Michael Desveaux will provide refunds to consumers who bought products via his website, Transformation 2012, based on false or misleading representations. This included Noni Juice listed as ” Increases energy, assists the functioning of the digestive tract, enhances sleep, assists in controlling moods and curing cancer and diabetes.”

“But perhaps the most memorable example of a network marketing stampede is noni juice, a once totally obscure Polynesian fruit that became the basis of a huge industry.” and “This is the sort of performance that makes get-rich-quick artists drool”. “The mangosteen phenomenon is a reprise of the aloe vera, gingko biloba, and especially the noni juice story, complete with exaggerated claims for the health benefits of an exotic fruit. It should come as no surprise that both the President and the Chief Financial Officer of Xango once worked for Morinda (now called Tahitian Noni International)”.

Mr. Philip S. Chua, M.D. has the following to say about his personal view on Noni; “As a physician and scientist, who has been in practice for 30 years, this writer is objectively skeptical about any one product or substance that claims to be a cure for all diseases and conditions.. At the present, I would not prescribe nor recommend Noni and others like it. I would even advise people against taking them. The yet unknown possible serious side-effects scare me.” His article which can be found here goes in detail about Noni Trees, where they can be found, what diseases it is supposed to be good for, the specific claims made about the medicinal value, side effects, studies and lack thereof, the financial popularity, and much more.

Deborah Wirtel writes about headaches and migraine in relation to Tahitian Noni Juice and concludes that “With just a little research, I found not only was this juice risky, but many advocates making these claims are in violation of at least three FDA acts.” and that the price of a single bottle varies between $30 and $100.

Source : David Eisenstein
This this legal suit (PDF) outlines a suit filed by a Noni distributor listing four complaints against TNI, of which two complaints are; (1) Securities Fraud; operation of a pyramid scheme and (2) Operation of a Pyramid Scheme in Violation of the Utah Criminal Code and Consumer Sales Practics Act.

In this Forbes Magazine article some insights are provided into the business of Tahitian Noni International, Inc. The article concludes “TNI, though, doesn’t need to make unprovable claims to thrive. Nor is there any law against buying fruit juice that smells like blue cheese, if that’s what people want to do with their money.” and “Between the noni plantations on Polynesian islands like Raiatea and Huahine and the American Fork, Utah bottling plant lies a lot of gross margin; an estimated $2 worth of fruit goes into each bottle.”

The Food and Drug Administration conducted a May 2002 inspection of Fresh Vitamins, a manufacturer of Noni Fresh Juice. Fresh Vitamins marketed its product to treat conditions ranging from immune system disorders to arthritis, malaria, and alcohol addiction. Following the inspection, the firm’s president stated that he had removed impermissible claims from the firm’s Web site and that he was educating himself on FDA policy regarding dietary supplement claims.

Source : Quack Watch
Attorneys General of Arizona, California, New Jersey, and Texas announced a multi-state settlement with Morinda, Inc., a multilevel company headquartered in Linden, Utah. The states had charged that Morinda had made unsubstantiated claims in consumer testimonials and other promotional material that its “Tahitian Noni” juice could treat, cure or prevent numerous diseases, including diabetes, depression, hemorrhoids and arthritis. Such claims rendered the beverage an unapproved new drug under state and federal food and drug laws and should not have been sold until it received approval.

Source : Ireland
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has warned consumers that any health or medical claims appearing on products containing noni juice extracted from the fruit Morinda citrofolia - are totally unsubstantiated. Noni juice was declared safe for human consumption in the EU in 2003 by the EU Scientific Commitee on Food (SCF), but with the provison that there were no accompanying health claims.

Morinda, Inc. (now called Tahitian Noni International, Inc.) had claimed that its product can stimulate the growth of T-cells and restore immune function. The company makes similar claims of cures for diabetes, cancer, depression and a list of other diseases….. and they had to pay the legal price of those unproven claims.

The New England Skeptical Society has an article on Noni fruit juice that targets a few key issues such as the Reliance upon testimonials rather than clinical research, The vague use of the term “natural” that conveys a mystical belief in its virtue, The basis of special knowledge, Vague references to scientific research coupled with unsubstantiated interpretations or extrapolations from basic science, exaggerated health claims, and of course Multi-level marketing.

Utah County, home of Morinda/TNI has the highest density of MLM’s (PDF)

“At the Economic Crimes Summit Conferences in 2002 and 2004 (sponsored by the National White Collar Crime Center), recruiting MLM’s such as Nu Skin, Neways, Morinda, Usana, Melaleuca, Nikken, and Amway/Quixtar (all of which depend on aggressive recruitment for their growth and with pay plans that indirectly reward recruitment over direct sales of products), were among companies presented as examples of product-based pyramid schemes. These are gradually coming to be recognized as a growing class of white collar crime “ i.e., fraud committed by otherwise respectable people. In fact, Utah leads the nation in concentration of recruiting MLM’s “ many headed up by Latter-day Saints!”. (Commonly referred to as Mormons). We found the PDF to present a very interesting subject that we have been detecting as a pattern; mormons and Noni and MLM pyramid schemes appear to go hand in hand. The PDF also contains a chapter titled ” How could well-meaning Latter-day Saints initiate and promote MLM programs that deceive and exploit people?.

A participant on an internet forum has the following to say in relation to the claims made in the above PDF;

“Also, all the witness I know have joined the Mormons in selling a product called Tahitian Noni juice. That’s right, the Witness’s and the Mormon’s. WOW. Together in multilevel (pyramid) marketing of a “miracle cure-all”. I remember a time when the witnesses took great pride in stating how “non-worldly” they were. Can it get anymore worldly than doing multilevel marketing with maybe the nations most capitalistic/worldly/conservative/pro America religious organization, the Mormons! I remember when a Witness’s despise of the Mormon’s could only be compared to their despise of the Catholic’s. I have seen my wife laugh Mormon’s off our property when they showed up at our door during their service endeavors. Now they all get together in Orem, Utah at Morinda world headquarters for sales convention’s, etc. I would love to see one of those convention’s. I wonder if the Mormon’s start the convention with a Pledge of Allegiance or by playing the National Anthem just to drive the Witness’s crazy. A couple Mormon’s own the corporation, therefore, the Witness’s are working for them. Helping them finance the Mormon religion.”

Source : Small Words
“And finally, why is the conference in Salt Lake City? What is it with Utah and multi level marketing? There is a new miracle health tonic that creates a stir there every few years: Nu Skin, Melaleuca, Tahitian Noni Juice, Usana. I asked my father-in-law about that once and he said it’s because so many Mormons are in need of extra cash and because the Latter-day Saint Church is set up such that there is a lot of networking. I hope he’s right, because I always thought it was because there were so many suckers among us.”

Disclaimer: We are not of the same faith as the authors of the PDF, nor do we support or endorse any specific religion or faith. This information is provided without bias because we allow anyone, regardless of religion, to expose Noni related scam practices. It does, however, strengthen our conclusion that a lot of people who are strong believers and followers of the Noni hype, which includes both users, customers, dealers, and distributors are as fanatic about their Noni as the various different religious extremists and fanatics in this world.

We found this interesting information about retired M.D. Neil Solomon, a paid speaker for TNI. The linked article has mentioned a number of things that makes us wonder how trustworthy this “Noni expert” (the author of “The Noni Solution”) who is often referred to by both fanatical users and distributors of Noni products. While the mentioned sexual misconduct may not have anything to do with the material Mr. Solomon has written it does, rather, cast a very nasty shadow on his reputation and that of the people benefitting from his promotional activities.

The linked article mentions; “Wadsworth shifted the huckstering to Neil Solomon, a retired M.D. who months earlier had written a glowing review of noni in an obscure Canadian health journal. Trained in medicine at Johns Hopkins, he was once Maryland’s secretary of health and was mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate. Solomon is now a paid speaker for TNI”. and that “He’s not practicing medicine anymore. In 1993 he surrendered his license after eight women alleged he had improperly used his position as head of a Maryland weight-loss clinic to have sexual relations with them” along with “Solomon filed for bankruptcy to protect his assets, but he later agreed to pay a total of $45,000 and signed a statement admitting unethical behavior. The Maryland Board of Health told Solomon that if he ever denied any deed he had admitted to in his statement, the board would release the sordid details of its own investigation”.

We have found a publication by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit with regard to Neil Solomon. It certainly does underscore what has been written in the above article given that the court document contains; Dr. Solomon’s only creditors are three former patients (and the spouse of one) who have sued him in tort for alleged sexual misconduct during the course of their treatment as his medical patients.* The plaintiffs claimed compensatory and punitive damages totaling approximately $160 million. Solomon scheduled each plaintiff’s claim as contingent, unliquidated, and disputed and listed the amount of each claim as zero. Although these debts were arguably non-dischargeable under Chapter 7 since they arose from “willful and malicious injury by the debtor,” 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6), the claims could be discharged under the broader”super-discharge” available to Chapter 13 debtors. 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a).

What you should know is as this review says; “its primary financial backer is Morinda, Inc., the Orem, Utah-based makers of Tahitian Noni Juice, one of those health drinks that you buy through distributors (rather than at stores, where reputable drinks are sold).”

“the film contains no fewer than four by-name references to noni juice, always accompanied by a positive appraisal of the drink. The reason, of course, is to boost consumer interest in the product,… In my case, the attempt has backfired, as the references are so annoying and obvious that they solidified my determination never to drink the vile liquid again.”

Source : CANCER.ORG
Unfortunately the Tahitian Noni Juice is not a medicine nor a cure for cancer or any other diseases.

This article by Moss Greene touches upon some of the unsubstantiated and unproven wild claims made by distributors and sales and marketing people regarding Noni Juice. Mrs Greene has the following to say, amongst other things;

“There’s absolutely NO real science, NO real research and NO real proof, NOTHING behind the Noni salesman’s hype that his bottles of sugary juice cures arthritis, ulcers, sprains, depression, high blood pressure, menstrual cramps and on and on and on.”

This web page certainly doesn’t wear any velvet boxing gloves when it comes to presenting information about Noni Juice… “If you are Australian, then you will know what I mean when I say that the “Goose Juice” is appropriately named. You would have to be a goose if you believed all the utter nonsense associated with Noni Juice. I’m sure Wallach & Co. just add a Noni juice supplement to their regime for those ignorant suckers who have already been sucked into the “Noni juice” cult following.”

The FDA sent out a warning (PDF) regarding a claims that Noni has been used to treat high blood pressure and arthritis.

A warning notice (PDF) to a company making unsubstantiated claims that Organic Noni helps suppress tumor growth indirectly by stimulating the immune system.

If you were to search for Noni Juice, Noni Scam, or other combinations of words involving Noni you will find dozens upon dozens of free domains, web space providers, and web referrers which are all aimed at guiding you to the Noni online shops. No self-respecting distributor would need to resort to this if their product was worth anything nor would they have to resort to such actions if there weren’t so many neutral and factual sites that present information on this “miracle cure” snake-oil. It appears that distributors have made themselves untrustworthy by resorting to these search-engine result pollution activities.

If you examine this web page you will notice someone posting under the alias “noni juice” has plastered a bunch of links to Noni related web sites in a discussion that is irrelevant to the topic. This is, amongst others, one of the ways those nasty Noni sales freaks are trying to get their pro-Noni propaganda sites rated higher in the search engines so that individuals looking for information will only find many pages of positive sales spins and testimonials. It moves all the other informative web sites further down which means you just have to look deeper because Noni sales charlatans are pulling the wool over your eyes.

Here is a small selection of more of the same; Another warning notice (PDF) with much of the same in terms of unsubstantiated wild claims. And another warning (PDF) regarding disease claims and curative properties of Noni-Juice. And if you still haven’t seen enough unsubstantiated and unproven claims made by people with a financial interest here’s another warning (PDF), this time regarding claims of the natural CURE for illness.

A Tahitian Noni distributor named Mary Hodgson explains how she used this strategy to sell Tahitian Noni Juice to people in chatrooms aimed at health or the counless number of illnesses and diseases, given that each and every one has a chatroom for something, somewhere. In her own unmodified words; On the computer: I am not one to visit chat rooms, but, when I first started this is what I did with very good results:

(1) Go to any health chatroom - yahoo, msn, excite, etc have them for any disease known to man and people love to go in and tell their problems to whoever will listen.

(2) Sit there and say nothing for about 3 minutes while people tell their problems.

(3) Say I have information on a new product for athritis, diabetes, fibromyalgia, obesity, (whatever the room is) that people are getting dramatic results with. If you would like some information e-mail me at (your e-mail) do not use your NONI e-mail addy.

They will ask “what is it”, You say: I do not give info in chat rooms, but, if you will e-mail me, I will send you information you can check out and see what you think.

Leave the room immediately !!!! You will get lots of requests for information - I got a good start doing this and some of those people have been with my NONI group for years.

It has been brought to our attention that a company called C & S Forster has been circulating e-mail messages to unknown quantaties of random individuals. Their unsollicited e-mails (better known as SPAM) contains a link to our website (noni.worldwidewarning.net) and implies that our website is associated with them and their business. Nothing could be further from the truth. Clive and Stuart Forster are Herbalife distributors (another MLM known for running scams using unethical and huckstering distributors) and in their SPAM messages they are trying to convince Tahitian Noni distributors to switch over to the products and so-called opportunities that they offer via their SPAM.

After approaching the company we were told by Mr. C. Forster, “In our defence we purchased 100 names from a company called Netcast Innovations Ltd who told us, on good authority, that Noni were in trouble and we could use names of people who had opted in for more information on the problems. They then sent us the following e-mail to send out to all the names. We were told we should send the e-mail as they had written it and we would receive a number of distributors from them. We are truly sorry and we have learnt from a very big mistake and we will never trust another company like Netcast Innovations Ltd. I think you should know that Netcast are using your website to try and get other Herbalife Distributors to purchase names from them. (I have also included a copy of the e-mail we received from them using your details and another websites details to attract idiots like ourselves who fall for the sales banter).”

As of 8 Feb. 2006 similar SPAM messages are now being sent by Angus Macdonald [angusmacdonald@usana.com]. The text of their SPAM in certain areas is identical to that of the one sent by Forster and leads us to believe that it too may have come from, or is a duplicate of the efforts of, NETCAST INNOVATIONS LTD. We, at noni.worldwidewarning.net, have nothing to do with Usana (yet another MLM company with huckstering and scamming distributors in a pyramidal structure) and in fact we rate them along the same lines as TNI and others we mention here on the website as you can see for yourself.

We have nothing but contempt for the way SPAMMERS like these, do business, similar to the contempt we have for any business that needs to resort to sending out unsollicited e-mail using an implied association that does not exist. Tahitian Noni distributors should feel free to direct all their profanity filled e-mails at the individuals or business that send out these SPAM MESSAGES instead of us, thank you!

Since there is not much point in contacting an MLM’s like Herbalife and Usana, given how their distributors are considered independent businesses and seeing as how NETCAST INNOVATIONS LTD have no regard for ethics in business, as their unsollicited e-mail action shows, we only have this to communicate to those who wish to use databases of e-mail address while sending out material containing our website, without our prior permission; Kindly refrain from any further use of our website to imply any association with us. Continue to do so and you will only inspire us to create a website, similar to this one, highlighting all the negative aspects and facts about YOUR PRODUCTS and BUSINESS. We are certain that companies like Herbalife and Usana will not be too pleased with that but will understand that you, the senders of these e-mails, are ultimately responsible for doing harm to the company you are distributing for.

Highly regarded nutritionist Rosemary Stanton says says anthraquinones in noni fruit are thought to be the toxic element.

At least three cases of toxicity associated with noni juice have been reported in medical journals. In April 2005 the EJGH cited the case of a 45-year-old man who took noni juice and developed toxicity in his liver. And in August last year the WJG reported two similar cases: a 62-year-old woman who recovered when she stopped taking the juice and a man, 29, who had to have a liver transplant.

A lot of concern exists under TNI distributors regarding the possibility of TNI going public and changing their business model. The real question is who the interested parties were who interested in buying the company and launching an IPO and why have they backed out. Could it be that the accounting is a mess and the books perhaps are cooked?

Floyd Holdman (the man who defeated financial cancer by selling noni juice to people with real cancer) writes; “It is not possible for TNI to continue to do business in many markets under their Chapter 1 business model. TNI cannot continue to lose money in any market.” and has elaborated on the TNI’s reorganization and preparation for Chapter 2 like how the vested stock option pool of 33 million shares would only allow for 5 percent (1.6 million) shares to be routed as the new bonus pool (for Black Pearls, Club Marquises and Global Executives).

The reason Floyd specifies for going public appears to be mainly for the expansion of capital, something that TNI seems to be suffering from as they come under more scrutiny. The fourth bonus pool attached to Access Marketing, however, is said “to remain in place and activated as soon as there are profits to share“. So if there are no profits to share it’s too bad for all those who got sucked into the noni myth.

Floyd also remarks that TNI originally intended to have 5 legs to direct the company but only ending up with 3 and that TNI has not sponsored any additional leg since June 1996 to fill up the two missing legs, and how during the period 1998-2003 multiple positions were discontinued, placement tightened, and Case Autoship changed to conditional and unconditional. Interesting to note is that Floyd claims that while Chapter 1 took TNI global, the business model is too restrictive to do business globally. As a result TNI’s strategic objective is to focus on the top 12 markets with URGENT focus on the top 5. What Floyd fails to mention is what the basis of this urgency is about.